Minter’s game TxK is clearly heavily influenced by his own work on the Tempest series
Photograph: PR

Veteran British game developer Jeff Minter is embroiled in a legal dispute with Atari, over his PlayStation Vita game, TxK.

Atari has alleged that the title, which appears to be influenced by the Tempest series of tunnel-based space shooters, is an infringement of its copyright.

In a legal letter apparently sent to Minter in June, and posted by him on his website, the company has demanded that Minter withdraw the title from sale. Minter also claims that Atari is blocking future versions of the game planned for PlayStation 4, PC and Android smartphones.

The original Tempest was a 1981 Atari arcade game, developed by programmer Dave Theurer. The unconventional shooter had players navigating an endless space tunnel, moving between the angled segments to shoot incoming spaceships.

In 1994, Jeff Minter – already a well-known developer for his series of 8bit home computer games, such as Attack of the Mutant Camels – was employed by Atari to create a sequel, Tempest 2000, for the Jaguar home console. Minter has since revisited the concept several times, including his Xbox Live game Space Giraffe and the contended TxK.

“This has been going on behind the scenes for a while now,” wrote Minter on his website. “I’d kept it on the down low all this time because I had hoped we could maybe work something out, maybe ‘Atari’ would commission an officially licensed version from us; we made it clear we’d be willing to negotiate about that sort of thing.

“I even thought maybe they might be interested in my doing updated versions of some of the other Atari IP. After all I do have a track record of doing decent reworkings of old games like theirs and I’d’ve really enjoyed a crack at some of those old things.

“However they never gave an inch and just continued with threats and bullying. Specifically they had their lawyers present a number of legal accusations about a variety of things; we consulted a lawyer who told us that if we wanted to fight against it then it’d be expensive because we’d need to address separately each of the things they were accusing me of.”

Minter then emphasised his frustration via a series of tweets, one saying: “It’s achingly sad because I *loved* Atari. Getting to work there, and creating one of their last great games, was such a joy for me.”

In a statement, Atari later clarified its position, claiming that there was currently no lawsuit, but reiterating its copyright claim: “Atari values and protects its intellectual property and expects others to respect its copyrights and trademarks. When Llamasoft launched TxK in early 2014, Atari was surprised and dismayed by the very close similarities between TxK and the Tempest franchise.”

Minter has never made any secret of the similarities between TxK and his Tempest 2000 release. The critically acclaimed title was described by many sites as a spiritual successor to that title.

However, copyright is a complex legal issue in the video games industry where iteration on innovative ideas and genre staples is a common element. Ideas and game mechanics cannot be copyrighted, only tangible assets such as source code, source artworks and musical composition are liable.

Copyright claims like these are common in the industry though, and Atari has been involved in several. In 1981, the company attempted to sue arcade manufacturer Amusement World for its title Meteors, a space shooter clearly influenced by Atari’s classic, Asteroids. It lost however, with the court deciding only the idea, not the tangible assets, was copied.

Minter wrote on his site that he cannot afford to fight a lawsuit. “Even just going back and forth a few times with letters responding to their threats ended up running up a couple of grand in legal bills, and there is simply no way on God’s earth I can afford any kind of a legal battle.”

Atari has passed through a number of owners since its heyday in the 1970s and 80s. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2013, in an attempt to extricate itself from its French owner.

It later emerged as a specialist in real money gambling games. However, the company has recently announced Asteroids Outpost, an updated version of its 80s classic.

“I await with eager anticipation the awesome version of Tempest that ‘Atari’ must have shortly forthcoming to have got so twattish about TxK,” tweeted Minter on Wednesday night.